Ironman Charlie Coyle credits health, Wild's training staff

WINNIPEG – Charlie Coyle, a guy who once played in the 2014 playoffs with not one but two separated shoulders, tied Antti Laaksonen’s Wild record by playing in his 283rd consecutive regular-season game Tuesday night.

If all goes according to plan, Coyle will break the team ironman record, set from 2000-03, Wednesday against the Chicago Blackhawks.

“You always want to be there and play and be there for your teammates,” said Coyle, who had three assists in the Wild’s 4-2 victory over the Jets. “And you want to be healthy and prolong your career. The healthier you are, the more chance you have of doing that. It’s just my goal to take care of my body and take care of myself off the ice, do the right things.”

Coyle gave major props to the Wild’s training staff, saying they do “a great job with all of us to get us back out there, take care of any nicks or pains or anything like that. We owe a lot to them.”

Doug Jarvis owns the NHL record with 964 consecutive games played. Anaheim’s Andrew Cogliano holds the longest active streak at 759; he hasn’t missed a game in his career.

Andrew Brunette, a former Wild coach and player, played 509 consecutive games from 2002-09 for Colorado and Minnesota. In six seasons with the Wild over two stints, Brunette missed three games.

Durable Wild center Eric Staal has missed 22 games in his 13-year career, and 12 of those came in one season.

Coyle’s theory is “no one is ever really 100 percent, for the most part, especially at the end of the year. Over the summer, you try and fix what isn’t 100 percent.

“Bottom line, if you’re going to play, then you aren’t hurt and you have to put that in your head. No matter what’s going on, if you’re playing, you’re out there, put it behind you and do what’s necessary for the team.

“It’s something you see every day from our leaders and all the other guys on the team. It’s something that trickles down. It’s cool to see other guys do that, and I just try to follow suit.”

Hat trick hijinks

There was a great picture after the Wild’s victory in Vancouver on Saturday in which Mikael Granlund, fresh off his first hat trick and four-point game, was laughing after a celebratory conversation with Devan Dubnyk.

Turns out the Wild goalie reminded Granlund of a post-warmup pep talk.

“I always give him a hard time about missing the net,” Dubnyk said. “I chirped him after warmup that the net’s four by six [feet] and it hasn’t changed for 100 years. Then he put three in and looked like he was on pace for seven. So maybe I’ll say something again.”

Etc.

• While the Wild was on the road, injured defenseman Jonas Brodin skated daily in Minnesota with skating instructor Andy Ness to stay in shape. Boudreau said Brodin still hasn’t touched pucks and is roughly 10 days away. Brodin has missed nine games since breaking a finger Jan. 17. The initial timeline was at least a month.

• All coaches know they’ll eventually be fired. Jets coach Paul Maurice is on his fourth NHL job after previously coaching Hartford/Carolina, Toronto and Carolina again. “Ten years, Stanley Cup,” Maurice quipped about Claude Julien’s dismissal in Boston. “Usually what it does is drive salaries up. Claude has next year at 3 [million dollars], so he’s going to be OK. Probably not working for less the next time around [either].”

• Winnipeg rookie phenom Patrik Laine on Wild captain Mikko Koivu: “He’s a big guy back home and a role model to all Finnish kids.”